This invention relates to a multipurpose, multimode collapsible cart that incorporates a detachable material handling adapter or carrier that is configured to operate in nested vertical and extended horizontal positions to transport and enable access to movable goods and similar items.
Every day billions of dollars in merchandise and small personal items are moved by carts from one place to another in the home or commercial environment. While efforts have been made to provide a cart to meet the diverse transport needs, few have met the challenge.
The present invention relates to a maneuverable multipurpose and multimode folding cart that provides the user a transport vehicle that can be used in both residential or business settings. There has been previously proposed various types of two-way or multiconfigurable shopping carts, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,328 to Leslie F. Hill Sr. , and the Foldable Two-Way Shopping Cart of U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,920, issued Jun. 28, 1968 to Leslie F. Hill, Sr., and Eugene C. Eskridge. The typical basket-like carriers have a main wall that is lowermost in the vertical position of the carrier, and side wall extending from the opposite sides of the main wall. Further, the known carrier has two doors hinged to the edge of the side walls remote from the main panel to close the front end of the carrier in its vertical position and to permit access to the carrier from above in the horizontal position, and an end door hingingly mounted between the ends of the side walls which are uppermost in the vertical position to permit access to the carrier from above in such a position to close the back of the carrier in the vertical position. The first known two-way shopping cart can not be collapsed so that, even when it is in its contracted position, a relatively large space is required for storage of the cart. The second cart provided a collapsible basket, however folding and/or collapsing was complicated and presented a safety challenge because it had no braking system for making the cart immobile when necessary. Parts are difficult to construct and assemble thus making it labor intensive and costly to produce.
What has been needed but heretofor unavailable is a multipurpose and multimode folding cart that includes safe and convenient collapsibility for compact storage, and reconfigurability for use with a wide variety of materiel handling capabilities. A new and improved multimode cart has been needed that can be used not only as shopping cart for grocery stores, but which can also be reconfigured without undue expense or inconvenience to be compatible for use in other consumer, home, retail, and commercial material handling operations without the need to purchase an additional cart. Additionally, what has been wholly absent from the prior art is a cart that offers these features and which is also capable of handling light or heavy loads.
The present invention was developed in order to overcome prior disadvantages of prior devices and to the offer solutions to the needs that remain in the industry by providing a multipurpose and multimode folding cart that requires fewer steps to operate, less cost to manufacture, which requires less storage space, and which offers a wide array of reconfigurable options to the user.
To meet the needs that exist in the art, a multipurpose materiel handling cart is disclosed that is compatible for use in transporting a wide variety of materiel including, for example, food and other personal items from store to home, laundry, medium sized shelf items in stock rooms, and other portable objects used in a wide variety of residential and commercial environments. More specifically, the inventive multimode cart for transporting items across a surface is configured with a substantially rigid and generally planar frame. The frame is formed with a handle at one end and main wheels disposed about an opposite end.
The cart also incorporates a generally planar base assembly, which is connected to the frame by an articulation assembly. Preferably, the articulation assembly is movable between a nested position and an extended position. The nested position configures the base to preferably be substantially coplanar with the frame, and can be used in a generally vertical orientation with respect to the surface. In the extended position, the base is arranged to be generally orthogonal with the frame and preferably horizontal relative to the surface. The base assembly further includes an interconnection assembly disposed about the base assembly. Auxiliary wheels are also included, which are adapted to cooperate with the main wheels when the cart is in the extended position.
Lastly, the cart includes a material handling adapter. The adapter is releasably attached by the interconnection assembly to the cart. The material handling adapter is any of a number of integrally, detachably, or releasably mounted and interchangeable attachments or adapters including, for example without limitation, a collapsible carrier basket, a rigid basket, a handtruck adapter, a flat bed carrier, an agricultural nursery tray, a pallet, an assembly jig, a dunnage rack, an engine stand, a postal tray, an office mail tray, a veterinary gurney, a medical device carrier, a hospital nursery carrier, a phlebotomy sample tray, and a dumbwaiter. The present invention is also directed to variations that include detachable nose rail and a braking system, which are further described hereinbelow.
In modifications to the preceding embodiments, the detachable nose rail is preferably formed from a generally U-shaped rail that is adapted to attach to the base assembly. The nose rail is operable in the extended position to support a nose basket or similar carrier device for transporting additional items therein. In the nested configuration, the nose rail supports the multimode cart against the surface during loading, unloading, and storage of the cart.
In further preferred variations of the embodiments already described, the multimode cart incorporates a brake assembly that includes at least one actuatable friction pad adapted to engage at least one of the main wheels to, when actuated, prevent rotation. In alternative variations of the braking system, the brake assembly includes at least one slidable brake rod attached to the frame and wherein at least one of the main wheels is formed with at least one slot adapted to receive the rod to prevent rotation of at least one of the wheels.
Another variation of any of the preceding embodiments contemplates a multi-mode cart with an interconnection system that further incorporates a plurality of clips and attachment recesses that are disposed about the base assembly and adapted to permanently, releasably, or detachably engage the material handling adapter.
In another modification to any of the preceding configurations, the capture device is formed to include a handle at one end and a latch at an opposite end. In this variation, the frame further includes a grapple that is adapted to be captured by the latch to retain the base assembly in the nested position relative to the frame.
These and other features of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the accompanying specification in combination with the drawing, and claims.